Merry Christmas to All

Christmas was a blast this year! My favorite part was when the boys kept repeating "The BEST Christmas Eeeevvvvveeeeerrr! Aidan's key phrase was "WOW!" he kept saying it along with "I always wanting this!" Jake just kept saying what a great Christmas he was having. The boys were awesome! No bickering, no jealousy and just lots and lots of fun. I'm still pregnant, guessing Corinna didn't want to share her bday with Christmas. Pete and Tony came for the afternoon and we all had fun playing with the boys. There's nothing better than being a 5 year old on christmas morning. Remember that feeling of coming out in the morning and seeing the living room transformed, knowing Santa had visited? WOW!

The weather was beautiful, too. We had to break it to the boys that we wouldn't be having christmas for a WHOLE other year!

Jake's fave gifts: Lego Star Wars Republic Gun Ship (1000+ pieces that spike stayed up past midnight assembling Christmas night), my first Chemistry Set, Bionicle toys, spongebob legos, Hula Hoop

Aidan's Fave gifts: Handy Manny tools (sigh, no flicker!), Imaginext Bat Cave, Mickey Race Track, Remote Control Car

Daddy's Fave: Paintball Mask with fan in it

Mommy's Fave: Scrapbooking Albums and Photoshop Elements

more snowy fun

Just some more pictures of the boys from yesterday. Still snowing today. We have about 10 inches to a foot of the white stuff out there. Poor doggies can't even walk really outside. Good thing we don't have a little dog.

Snow Day Finally

For the first time this school year, school was closed. The funny thing was that there wasn't a flake to be found when the sun came up. The weather obsessed had been tracking a HUGE storm that was supposed to hit at 7 AM this morning. 5-10 inches expected with a fun mix of sleet and snow. Well, 7 came and went without any snow. 8 AM, 9 AM, 10 AM nothing. Finally around 10:30 it started. And boy, once it started, it didn't let up. It snowed hard and fast. At nearly 4 in the afternoon, I'm guessing we have around 6 inches. Luckily Spike left work around lunch and beat the heaviest of the downfall, but still, it took him an extra HOUR to get home. Once he ate, he and the boys headed out to play in the snow for the first time this season. It was rough though, it was overcast, snowing hard (and not packing snow), and only about 25 degrees. Aidan didn't last very long outside, but Jake and Spike stayed out for a long while. I'm hoping tomorrow will be nicer out for them. I very carefully stepped a few steps outside in good boots to take a few pictures. It was killing me not to be out there with them more. Though the fast snow in my face and low temps quickly squashed my feelings of guilt.

Waiting!

Oh I'm so ready to have the baby! I guess I should say I'm so ready to be done being anxious about the weather and going into labor. I know it's early...a few days shy of 36 weeks, but I'm uncomfortable, tired, cranky...and it's icy and rainy out. And I really don't want to be in the hospital for Christmas Eve.

I can not wait to meet this little girl. To hold her and bring her home and let her meet her brothers!

Wrapping and Being Lazy

Twas less than 2 weeks until christmas and all through the house, was stuff to be done...with no motivation! Being 35 weeks pregnant at christmas time is a little less fun than expected. Waddling my way through baking and wrapping and errands in the cold has lost its appeal. Luckily, Spike took Aidan out for a day jam-packed with errand running. Aidan loved the daddy and me time and Jake actually agreed to stay home with little ol' me. We're still in our PJs and couldn't be happier. I'm letting him play Wii and he's letting me scrapbook. I know that quiet time will be limited in a few weeks, so I'm trying to sieze the moment.

Lainie and I did bake the crescent rollups yesterday and they came out delicious. I've eaten far too many.

Baking, Baking, Baking

Mmmm it's cookie time! Aidan and I just finished our first ever batch of "Top-Secret Chocolate Cookies" stole the recipe from a Paula Dean cookie swap show. They were fun to make. Aidan liked rolling the chocolate dough balls in the sugar. I think we're up for the German Crescent Roll-ups (recipe found in Nove 2007 blog entry) this weekend with Lainie. And maybe a surprise batch of Gobs (Spike's absolute favorite) if I'm up for it. This time of year is so much fun. So much good stuff to eat-sweetwise. My favorite!

Here's the gob recipe...handed down from Spike's Mom:

1 Cup Sugar

1/4 cup crisco

1 Egg
Cream together Sugar, Crisco, and Egg

2 Cups Flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sour or buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 boiling water--LAST

1/4 cup cocoa

Drop 1-tablespoon at a time--Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes (or less)

FILLING:

In pot on stove, cook:

1 1/2 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup milk

Separately mix:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup crisco

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Mix together paste and cream mixture until creamy. Let sit in fridge until thick

Happy Turkey Day!

What a nice thanksgiving we had at the GB house. My sisters really helped out doing practically everything so I was able to rest. This being fat-and-8-months-pregnant thing at the holidays is tougher than I imagined. The boys were really good and the food was plentiful and delicious. Aidan still insisted that he was thankful for football which we just can't figure out. Jake wowed us and said he was thankful for his mom and dad (aw).

We got the tree set up and the house all decorated for christmas. How much fun! Unfortunately I didn't feel well at all and had to lay down on the couch and just watch the boys. But it was so nice to see them discover their ornaments and hang them on the tree.

As a tradition each child picks out a special ornament for themselves each year and we pick out a family ornament with the year and room for a photo. Jake picked something from Star Wars (surprise!) and it plays the Imperial March. over and over...gee, I hope nothing happens to the batteries.... Aidan picked out Rocket from Little Einsteins. It's not festive, but it's cute at least.

As soon as I ordered the pictures for our christmas card, the boys did something so cute--all on their own--that would have made the perfect card. Oh the timing!

SURPRISE!!

Holy cow--you got me! Last sunday I was TRICKED into going to tea with Renee and Heather. (Oh yeah, a lot of arm twisting to get me to go to a tea shop with just the girls). Tara drove me and when I walked in, there were Lainie, Shannon, Lena, and Heather! Surprise. I wasn't expecting anything at all and I was just overwhelmed by everything. The place we went, Charlotte's Tea Room in Warwick, was so beautiful. If I could live anywhere else, it would be there. It was like a Holly Pond Hill drawing come to life. Renee went all out and made this great diaper cake (so cool in person), favors for the shower, and crocheted a blanket! I couldn't have been more grateful for the amazing friends and family I'm lucky enough to have! This baby is going to have so many people loving her!

Great Syracuse Weekend

wow-what a weekend. It's hard to believe how much can happen in 30 hours. The ride up was great, we made it in 3 hours. The boys were SO excited to see their cousins. Kim threw a very nice shower. I am so lucky to have a sister in law like her. My favorite gift this huge ceramic pink piggy bank with tiara and tu-tu, sounds horrible, right, but it's so cute. We got the crib bedding which is so soft I want to sleep on it. Poor spike super stubbed his toe and lost part of his pinky nail and has this awful blood blister. I can't even look it's so gross. I had a ton of braxton hicks contractions this weekend and even leaked a little milk. I'm guessing it's my body reacting to the crying of Kaitlin.

Oh, and Aidan was dressed in his flash costume almost the entire time.

Since we wouldn't be heading upstate again before christmas, we exchanged gifts a bit early. The toy that we got Kaitlin for christmas, an Elmo toy dressed like a chicken that plays and dances to "the Chicken Dance" alternately thrilled and terrified her. As long as the toy was walking away from her, she was fine...if it walked towards her, she was so scared.

Charlie found a tote of legos in the attic and brought it down. I don't know who was more excited, spike or jake. The legos were from when Kim and Spike were kids. And anthony played with them when he was little. So let's conservatively say they've been in the attic 5+ years in this tote. As they are going through the tote, they came across 6 french fries. Perfect condition! No mold, no decay--nothing. You would never know that they were more than an hour old. I instantly felt gross for ever eating a french fry and pictures my insides filled with old mint condition fries.

Yahoo!

Today was one of the days that I most look forward to. Today was the day that I brought the donations from Stamp, Scrap, CURE! to the American Cancer Society. In that fancy manilla envelope was $5,600! It's going 100% towards ovarian cancer research and that brings a tear to my eye. I get all choked up thinking about how my mom would react knowing that in just 3 years we've raised more than $15,000 for research. That maybe we're just that much closer to having incredible women like her avoid the suffering and pain that this horrible disease can cause. We're that much closer to having more women educated and aware about the symptoms and warning signs of ovarian cancer. We're that much closer to giving all women the chance to meet their grandchildren. Love you mom.

Trick or Spooky Treat!

After the scary (Jake getting strep throat yesterday and missing his first school parade and classroom party today!) came the fun part of halloween. When jake got the dr's okay to go trick or treating we joined our friend Amy and her kids for a stroll around their (LONG) block. It started off pretty warm, but sure got chilly as we finished up. The boys did pretty good. Aidan (ELMO) got a bit tired after a while and wanted to be pulled in the wagon (I can't blame him, I wanted a ride, too!) Jake (BOBA FETT from Star Wars) did well right up until the last few houses. We went with some other kids, too. An older boy was dressed as some other guy from Star Wars and Jake was in Heaven. He followed that boy around every step. That boy's poor sister fell between the first and second house and ended up being brought to the emergency room for a possible broken arm. She was wailing in pain and just wanted to keep trick or treating! Can you imagine? She was devastated at the thought of having to stop.

Halloween treats

Tomorrow is halloween and I finally, actually am looking forward to it. Aidan and I just made some chocolate sprinkled covered pretzles for some folks for tomorrow. Didn't know if teachers and bus drivers, etc got treats. Aidan enjoyed stealing the pretzles and sprinkles, and playing with the white string, aside from that though...maybe next year.

Happy.....Brrrr.....halloween

Poor Aidan had his halloween party and parade at school this morning. Holy Freezing batman. It was overcast, flurrying, and 38 degrees. The kids did a quick loop-de-loop around the parking lot and called it a parade. I mean, it's pretty tough to get 14 3 year olds to do much of anything at the same time, so I couldn't blame them. But Aidan was in heaven wearing his 'mel-mo' costume to school. I can't imagine how sugared up he is going to be when I pick him up after the party. There were a ton of brownies, donuts, candy bags, etc for each kid.

First Snow

Gulp....it happened! The first snow of the season. What a crazy weather day. Rainy in the morning. So windy. Then it was super snowing and raining at the same time. Yick. Aidan wants to go play in the snow so badly. It's not quite 'play in the snow' weather, but I can't believe that is right around the corner. Fingers crossed for a snow-free halloween.

We did it!

Yahoo! Stamp, Scrap, CURE! went off as smoothly as can be yesterday! Our group of about 70 women raised more than $5000 for ovarian cancer research! It was amazing.

I was fortunate to hear a lot of great feedback and people seemed to really enjoy themselves. I had lots of great help throughout the day and Kim made extra sure that I ate and drank water throughout the day! So even though my voice was gone by 10AM and I felt pretty rotten, I was able to stay healthy enough to make it through the whole day. Unfortunately, the pouring rain added a little element of surprise as everyone was leaving. Check the website, http://www.stampscrapcure.org/ for more info and pictures! I'm off to rest!

It's Almost Here

Well, tomorrow is the big day. The annual Stamp, Scrap, CURE! fundraiser for ovarian cancer research. With the majority of the work done at this point, it's just a matter of getting stuff loaded into the van and making it through tomorrow. My killer head cold is not helping much, but luckily Spike and the boys are feeling a bit better. I also have quite a team assembled to help out tomorrow. Wish me luck! I want to make a ton of money for research! Check out some of these pictures from last year's event. To learn more go to www.stampscrapcure.org.

See how they grow!

It's hard to believe in the pictures that they have grown so much. The first year we went here, Aidan was just about 1 and wouldn't stand up against the sign ...but he's getting the hang of it now!

Pumpkin Day at School

Today Jake had a special treat. All the kindergarteners (and in our case, Aidan, too) got to enjoy a brief hayride, cider and donuts, and pumpkin picking--right at the school with strategically placed pumpkins. What a nice afternoon. The kids got such a kick out of it. And the weather so cooperated. It was cloudy all morning, and pretty much as soon as the kids came out, so did the sun!